PSY111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Behavioral Neuroscience, Humanistic Psychology, Behaviorism
Psychodynamic perspective
- The psychodynamic view posits that conscious and unconscious forces interact to
control our thoughts and behaviours.
- Mental processes can be in conflict, resulting in anxiety.
- Iceberg metaphor.
- Meanings of speech and dreams sought
- Data collected through case studies to understand thoughts, feelings and actions.
Behaviourist perspective
- The behaviourist view is that environmental stimuli control behaviour through learning.
- The behaviour of humans (and animals) can be understood without reference to internal
states such as thoughts or feelings.
- Stimuli become associated through conditioning
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning
- Seeks to understand the relations between stimuli and behaviour through the
experimental method.
- Data is quantitative empirical data that can be analysed statistically and replicated.
Humanistic perspective
- The humanistic perspective focuses on the uniqueness of the individual and that people
are motivated to reach their full potential (self-actualisation).
- The metaphor for the humanistic perspective is that people are innately good and will
strive to realise goals and ambitions.
- The humanistic perspective is person-centred
Cognitive perspective
- The cognitive view focuses on how people process, store and retrieve information
- The metaphor for the cognitive perspective is that the mind is like a computer
(information processing model).
- Uses experimental methods to infer mental processes at work
Evolutionary perspective
- Evolutionary view is that human behaviours evolved because they helped our ancestors
survive and reproduce.
- Some behaviours are biologically determined (e.g., the impulse to eat, sexual impulses).
- Sociobiology: Natural selection operates on psychological functions and social behaviour
as well as physical functions.
Document Summary
The psychodynamic view posits that conscious and unconscious forces interact to control our thoughts and behaviours. Mental processes can be in conflict, resulting in anxiety. Data collected through case studies to understand thoughts, feelings and actions. The behaviourist view is that environmental stimuli control behaviour through learning. The behaviour of humans (and animals) can be understood without reference to internal states such as thoughts or feelings. Seeks to understand the relations between stimuli and behaviour through the. Data is quantitative empirical data that can be analysed statistically and replicated. The humanistic perspective focuses on the uniqueness of the individual and that people are motivated to reach their full potential (self-actualisation). The metaphor for the humanistic perspective is that people are innately good and will strive to realise goals and ambitions. The cognitive view focuses on how people process, store and retrieve information. The metaphor for the cognitive perspective is that the mind is like a computer (information processing model).
